


and the skies rain blood

by Edgedancer



Category: RWBY
Genre: Dark, Gen, and very melodramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 10:54:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11229465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edgedancer/pseuds/Edgedancer
Summary: Outside the havens, far from the beacons, where there is no light to cast shade and no atlas to guide them, the people never forget: show no fear, for the darkness sees. Betray no weakness, for the monsters watch.A bit of speculation on what growing up outside the kingdoms was like for Qrow and Raven.





	and the skies rain blood

Outside the havens, far from the beacons, where there is no light to cast shade and no atlas to guide them, the people never forget: show no fear, for the darkness sees. Betray no weakness, for the monsters watch.

_Red eyes, take warning._ The survivors whisper it, scream it, gasp it in their final breaths. _Red,_ they say, _all red. Their eyes were red._

Those with them shudder, remind themselves of the thickness of their walls and the shield of their denial. They will not listen because they do not care to hear. They do not gaze too long into the forest for fear that the forest will gaze back into them.

 

_red sky at night_

As evening falls over the rooftops they lock their gates, hoping the night cannot slip through the cracks. Tonight, they will drink and laugh and kiss their children goodnight with more tenderness than can be imagined, hoping that their white smiles and bright eyes can push back the shadows.

Out of the forest stumble two children: boy and girl, mirror images, clutching each other’s hands. Those on the walls wave the children in: darkness and fear may divide men as soon as unite them, but each of them can see their own daughter in the curl of her hair and their own son in the shuffle of his steps, and so they are welcomed.

They take the children in, show them through the town, ask from where they came.

_Shion,_ the children respond, or perhaps _Kuroyuri._ The answer the children of the forest give changes every time, but the response is the same.

They turn to each other, those keepers of walls, and reflected in each other’s eyes they see a memory, days old: a pillar of smoke, the darkness’s triumphant cry and sorrow’s somber echo.

The children have scrapes and bruises, sometimes even cuts and broken bones: they bring with them a reminder of the darkness. But the keepers of walls are wise, or perhaps they simply fancy themselves so; they see first that the children live, a sign that the darkness cannot smother all the light. The children are not of the darkness, and so they invite them into their homes, share with them their food and fires.

They do not realize that flames, too, are light, but flames cast shadows; that in the end everything is left to burn. This, they do not see.

They see survivors, carriers of light, and give thanks.

 

_sailor's delight_

(Later, they see a huntress, a scion of light, and give thanks. Here is one who will look into the darkness for them, who will carry them through its very heart while they squeeze their eyes shut.)

(But those who fight monsters must be wary, lest they become monstrous; and those who must trust them are unwise even to blink.)

 

_red sky at morning_

As false dawn creeps over the treetops they open their eyes, finding the girl gone. The boy will not tell them where or when or how his sister went, only that she will return. They do not understand, but these are people who make lives in a world full of darkness they can never understand. They put their heads down and keep moving forward.

The boy helps with the pre-dawn chores. He watches as they drop eggs, nick fingers, set their clothes alight. He watches as they open their gates as the sun rises, believing it will hold the darkness back even as it paints the clouds the color of blood.

 

_sailors take warning_  

(Before the sky is blue, the girl returns with her family of monsters. The boy goes to her, and watches as they set the walls alight.)

(Before the darkness closes in, they are gone, and there are scant few survivors left to warn of red eyes.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look, it's short! But not sweet... Maybe next time. (This a fairly cheerful fandom, right? I'm sorry, guys.)
> 
> Title is from "I May Fall". The doctored line about the abyss and about people who fight monsters are from Nietzsche; the "sailors take warning" is a common rhyme used to predict weather; Raven being the messenger telling the tribe when to strike is inspired by the Norse myth of Odin's ravens which supposedly is the fairytale influence for the Branwen twins.
> 
> Thoughts? Leave a comment, or come talk to me on [tumblr!](http://radiantmists.tumblr.com)


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